


Two ravens

by Maroucia



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M, book canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 10:28:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3064430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maroucia/pseuds/Maroucia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two ravens the Elder Brother received from the North, one week apart. This has been written for RedCandle for the sansaxsandor raven mail exchange last summer and I have finally decided to share it here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two ravens

**Author's Note:**

  * For [redcandle17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/redcandle17/gifts).



Salutations to you, Elder Brother,

 

This is Sandor writing to you, as you may have guessed at seeing this bird coming from the north. I arrived at Winterfell about a fortnight ago, pretty much as we predicted when we prepared my trip from the Quiet Isle. Apart from that though, I have to tell you not a single bloody thing happened according to our plans. Chances are you’ll be seeing my ugly face sooner than expected.

 

Remember how badly the news about Sansa seemed when it reached our ears a moon ago? Catastrophe had been about to strike the young heiress of Winterfell and everything pointed toward her already being caught in some insurmountable predicament, like the rumours we heard. She had somehow managed to escape from that bastard Littlefinger with her great-uncle the Blackfish and made it to her late father’s castle – we had been told. It was a fucking miracle two lonely travellers hadn’t been killed along their way across the war-stricken hundreds of leagues that separates the bloody Eyrie and the North, yet despite their early luck, trouble had caught up with them from the instant they arrived at their destination. Winterfell had been filled with outlaws and the like, plus worst of all, some power-craving thugs who believed their own lies when they pretended being knights. The sons of whores wanted control of the castle for good and marrying their new young maiden captive to their leader seemed like the best way to achieve it. That’s what those poxy travellers told us when they spent a few days at the Isle and from the moment we knew, I was packing my few belongings and heading north. Ha! You were the first to urge me to the little bird’s rescue. You said it was my _duty_ , that since I had failed her already and lived with the regret of having seen her mistreated without interfering ever since, the best thing I could do to redeem myself in my own eyes and the gods’ was to help her out of the shit she was about to get buried in. I agreed, I won’t pretend otherwise but now, would you believe it if I told you it was all a bloody big mistake on our part? I was never needed here. Not one buggering bit.

 

From the fucking first instant I stepped foot in Winterfell’s territory, I realised the situation had changed and that the last tidings we’d heard were as stale as bread left in an attic for a whole moon. Indeed, I was only glimpsing her castle from afar when Lady Sansa Stark, mistress of Winterfell and Warden of the fucking North greeted me herself. Her sentries had noticed my presence and informed her about it, she told me from her seat on an elegant mare, her back straight and bearing as proud as a queen’s. The damned woman was surrounded by a bunch of armed men but none seemed a threat to her – far from it. It was evident from the start she was the one in control and when she related to me the events that took place since her arrival, how at the very beginning Winterfell was filled with enemies but that less than a sennight afterwards, most of her late father’s loyal bannermen had heard about her return and taken the castle by storm, I wasn’t much surprised to hear it. It hadn’t been difficult to grasp control of the place, she told me and now everything in the North was as quiet as it should be. They were peacefully working on Winterfell’s reconstruction and the kingdom was miraculously free of dangers and enemies. Nevertheless if I wished to stay with them, I was more than welcome - she offered so very _generously_. There was plenty of work to be done and a man of my strength and skills would be an asset for the North. Stupid dog that I am, I said yes to her proposition without even thinking it over. Seven hells but what was I thinking? What is a killer like me good for in a fucking hamlet lost in the middle of nowhere where nothing ever happens – especially in a time of peace?

 

You wouldn’t believe how fucking bored I am these days. I’ve naught to do apart from some buggering handiwork. Thankfully there’s still some good enough wine in the cellar but its quantity is limited. I can’t get drunk as often as I’d like. Yet by the bloody Stranger, what is driving me crazy more than anything else is the little bird’s damned attitude. Oh, she’s nice with me all right, polite and sweet, however she is with everyone - and a little too much for my taste, I’d add. My attraction to her is no secret to you, Elder Brother, thanks to those foggy days I spent feverishly complaining about every fucking aspect of my life right after you found me dying in the forest. I’ve no shame, she’s beyond worthy of any man’s interest and even more beautiful than when I left her to the Lannisters three years ago - yet that’s _exactly_ the fucking problem! I know I’ve no right to her but there’s no way I can continue standing by her side with nothing of importance to occupy myself while watching all those damned buggers woo her. There’s not a single man in her entourage that doesn’t have an eye on her and they all continuously make certain she has no doubt about their devotion. The girl doesn’t seem to mind it in the least and always smiles and giggles when they whisper sweet nothings to her, which encourages the bastards of course. A few have already asked her to marry them right before my bloody eyes and she hasn’t truly refused either – only said she’d think about it. Believe me, Elder Brother, witnessing one more of those fucking scenes could really end badly for me. I know you like to think I’ve changed but I’m still a violent man and rage can easily take control of me if I’m pricked – which I _am_ each and every time I see one of those twice-cursed idiots get on his knees before her. The worst is that I heard that very wise great-uncle of hers telling a group of men as lightly as if he was chatting about the weather that he encouraged any of them to court Lady Sansa. He said that as she was young and the last of her line, she needed an heir and the help a husband could grant her. He didn’t want to choose for her but liked the idea that she’d have a lot of suitors to pick from.

 

Well, you know what I thought of that, ugh? Why shouldn’t I give them just _that_ if it’s really what they want and we’ll see if they like it coming from a ragged and ugly dog like me? I don’t see any bloody reason I should be the only bugger not to try his luck with the _fair maiden_. I have no intention of being in Winterfell tomorrow when the sun rises anyhow and as I’ve nothing to lose, I’d rather have my fun before I’m gone forever from this shit-hole. We’ll see if the little bird smiles and giggles when I tell her how beautiful she is in front of all her people and if she keeps her cool as I get on my knee, forcefully grasp her lithe hands in mine and ask her to become my lady and wife. Will she say she’ll ‘think about it’ too? Perhaps she will, she’s so courteous after all but she won’t mean it in the least and it’ll show on that pretty face of hers. Being asked to marry a hideous and brutish man like me is not something any woman wishes for – especially in public. The mere fact of my interest being known by all will without a fucking question be a total humiliation for her and the day my declaration will be forgotten by her liegemen will never come. People will talk about it forever, their disgust never fading, whatever she’ll attempt to make the memory disappear and I have to admit finding the notion _extremely_ satisfying in some perverse way.

 

You understand now why I’m telling you that you’ll be seeing me again very soon? Ha! I can guess how discouraged you must be at reading how unruly I still am but what the fuck were you expecting? You’ll get to scold me as much as you like in no time though. I’m sending this message by bird in a moment and then, I’ll be heading straight to the great hall where I know Sansa is. I can’t wait to see her face as she learns the inappropriateness of my fucking _feelings_ for her.

 

See you soon,

 

Sandor

 

***********

 

_About a week later, the Elder Brother received another raven from Winterfell:_

 

                    

 


End file.
